Power track drill



May 29, 1951 0. RICHARDS POWER TRACK DRILL 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec.21, 1946 May 29, 1951 D. RICHARDS POWER TRACK DRILL Filed Dec. 21, 19454 SheetsSheet 2 win-1 5i S- May 29, 1951 D. RICHARDS POWER TRACK DRILL.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 21, 1946 May 29, 1951 o. RICHARDS POWERTRACK DRILL 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Dec. 21, 1946 Patented May 29, 1951POWER TRACK DRILL Dwight Richards, Harvey, Il1., assignor to The BudaCompany, Harvey, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application December21, 1946, Serial No. 717,675

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a portable drill rig, particularly adapted foruse in drilling railroad rails, or like structural members, in situ.

One object of the invention is to provide a relatively light andportable apparatus including a power plant for operating a drill.Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved trackdrill having means by which it may quickly be engaged with or detachedfrom the'track at will.

Another object of the invention is to provide a track drill with asupport on which it is readily adjustable to bring the drill pointaccurately to the correct height.

A further object of the invention is to provide a portable track drillhaving a supporting frame provided with handles for carrying the outfitfrom place to place and disposed so as to achieve a substantiallybalanced distribution of the weight of the equipment with respect to thehandles.

The invention also provides the-drill with a mechanical power plant,preferably in the form of a small internal combustion engine with directgear connection between the engine and the drill spindle, and means forvarying the engine speed to secure the desired speed of the drill.

Other objects and advantages of the inven tion will appear from thefollowing description taken in connection with the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a power track drill embodying thisinvention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same with the rail hook and frontportion of the supporting frame omitted to condense the view and withcertain parts shown in section;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation similar to Fig. 1 but with portions of themechanism shown in section substantially at the plane indicated by theline 3-3 on Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional View taken as indicated at line 4-4 onFig. 3 and showing the supporting frame and the mechanism frame in plan.

The track drill shown in the drawings as illustrative of this inventionincludes a drill spindle carrying a chuck l2 and journalled in amechanism frame 14 which consists of horizontally extending parallelside frame members 16 and 18 connected by cross members 20, 22, 24, 2tand 28 and adjustably attached to a supporting frame 30. The supportingframe is shown as composed of a pair of tubular members 32, 32 havinghori.

zontally extending portions and end portions 34 which extend upwardlyand which are connected by handles 36, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. The

members 32, 32. are also connected ,by cross members 38 and 4B, and arespaced a width greater than the width of a track rail so that the drillmay be placed on a track rail with the cross members 38 and 40 restingon thetop of the rail and supporting the drill elevated from the trackbed. In this position the drill may be moved from one location toanother along the track by sliding the drill along a rail on the cross,members 38 and 40. The member 38 has attached to it a pair of upstandingmembers 42 to which the mechanism frame is pivotally con nected by pivotbolts 44 engaging lugs 46 which extend outwardly from the side member 18of the mechanism frame. At the other side of said frame a lug 48projects rigidly from the side member l6 and is connected by a pivotbolt 5!) to the depending arm 52 of an apertured part 54 whichisvertically adjustable upon the threaded rod 56 upstanding from the crossmember 40 and may be locked in any position of adjustment between thethreaded hand wheels 58 and 60. By thus tilting the mechanism frame 14up or down about the pivots 44, the axis of the drill spindle 10 may beraised or lowered with respect to the supporting members 32 which, asshown in Fig. 2, will normally rest on the ties A of the track. Toincrease the range of adjustment, the upright members 42 may haveadditional pivot holes 44a and 44b for the bolts 44-, and the member 52may have an auxiliary pivot hole 50a for the pivot bolt 56, as seen inFig. 2. This makes it possible to maintain the mechanism frame in asubstantially horizontal plane and still provide a wide range ofadjustment for positioning the drill as may be required with rails ofdifferent heights or in drilling holes at various special positions inthe rails. I

The power plant for driving the drill is shown as a small internalcombustion engine 62 of the air cooled type which may have a blowerincorporated in its flywheel and enclosed in the housing shown at I34.At one end the engine shaft is fitted with a drum 66 to receive a ropefor starting the engine, and at the opposite end the shaft carries adriving pinion 68. This pinion meshes with an internal gear 10 withwhich there is rigidly associated a sprocket wheel '12 connected by achain 74 with a sprocket wheel 15 which is journalled coaxially with thedrill spindle 10. The sprocket wheel 16 is connected to the spindle inby a key'l8 engaging a key slot which extends for a substantial distancein the shaft of the spindle so that the latter can slide longitudinallythrough its driving sprocket 16 for advancing the drill into the workand withdrawing it therefrom. This movement of the spindle is effectedby means of a feed screw 82 mounted at the rear end of the drill spindleI and coaxially therewith, and connected with the spindle through a ballthrust bearing shown at 84 in Fig. 3. The feed screw 82 has a reducedend portion 86 telescopically fitted into the end of the drill spindleI0; and a pin 88 secured in the spindle I0 engages a groove 90 in saidreduced portion 86. the feed screw 82 advances the drill into the workby pressure applied through the thrust bearing 84 but withdraws it bymeans of engagement of the pin 88 in the groove 90. The

feed screw 82 is held against rotation by pin 92 engaging a keyway 94 inthe screw, and the screw is adjusted longitudinally by means of a feednut 96 formed with gear teeth 98 which mesh with a gear I00, as seen inFig. 4. The gear I00 is fixed to a shaft I02 having a sprocket wheel I04at its rear end connected by a chain I06 with a driving sprocket I08which is driven by a hand crank IIO, as seen in Fig. 3. The gear I08 andits crank IIO are journalled at an elevated position within convenientreach of the operator and are supported by the legs II2, IIZ of an Aframe attached to the mechanism frame I4 at their lower ends andconnected at the upper end to a tubular frame member II4 which extendshorizontally over the engine and is then bent downwardly to an anchorageformed by a housing II6 which encloses the internal gear I0 and thesprocket I2. Thus, when the operator has adjusted the drill point to theproper height and has regulated the engine speed to secure the desiredspeed at the drill spindle, he can steady the machine by resting onehand on the tubular frame member I I4 while the other hand operates thecrank I I 0 to advance the drill in its work.

In preparing to drill a railroad rail, such as the rail shown at B inFig. 3, the supporting frame 30 is set down on the ties A adjacent therail and is engaged with the rail by means of overclutch hook I whichextends integrally from the yoke I22, having its arm connected to sidebars I24, I24 which in turn are pivotally attached to toggle links I20,I26 connected to the ends of the frame members I6 and I8 by pivot boltsI28. Preferably the hook itself is bifurcated and formed with twobearing portions I30, I30 which engage the web of the rail B at the sideopposite that against which the drill point I3I is fed. The bearingportions I30, I30 of the hook are thus spaced apart far enough to permitthe drill to bore through the web of the rail without contacting thehook. The hook is preferably adjusted so that it engages the web of therail substantially at the plane of the drill axis, and, when it is thusengaged, the links I26 are rocked backwardly to a position at which thepivotal connections I32, I32 between said links and the side bars I24are slightly below center; that is, a line connecting one of the pivotsI32 with the bearing portion I30 of the hook will pass slightly belowthe axis of the pivot E28, as seen in Fig. 3. The links I23 are rigidlyconnected by a cross bar I34 which engages the upper edges of the framemembers It and I0 to limit the backward swing of the links at thisposition, and in view of this relation of the parts, the pressure of thedrill I32 against the rail acts to tension the side bars :24 and holdthe terminals I30 of the hook I20 in firm engagement with the oppositeThus face of the rail. The pivots I32 are formed with knobs or handlesI33 so that to release the hold of the hook I20 it is only necessary tograsp one or both of these knobs I33 and swing the links I26 forwardlyaround the pivots I28 and through an arc of about thus shifting the hookI20 away from the rail so that it is free to be swung upwardly as to theposition shown in Fig. 1 at which it may be retained by any suitablemeans such as the hook I35 which is attached to the frame member II4.This arrangement facilitates the quick release of the hook I20 wheneverit is necessary to interrupt a drilling operation because of theapproach of a train, and the relatively light weight of the machinemakes it easy for a man to lift it quickly out of the way until thetrain has passed. It should be noted that the forward movement of thelinks I26 is limited by the cross bar I34, the central portion of whichengages the forward end of the drill spindle assembly when the linkshave been moved to approximately vertical position as shown in phantomin Fig. 1.

To accommodate the hook I20 to various situations, its effective lengthis made adjustable by providing three holes I30 in each of the side barsI24 so that the connecting bolts I38 may be engaged in any one of theseholes. A somewhat closer adjustment of the length is rendered possibleby providing two holes I40 in each arm of the yoke I22 and spacing theholes I40 at a distance equal to one and one-half times the distancebetween two consecutive holes I36 of the side bars. Thus, the length ofthe hook may be varied in steps equal to one-half the distance betweenthe consecutive holes I30, using the holes I40 of the yokealternatively.

From the above it will be seen that the invention comprises a portablepower-driven rail drill which may be readily adjusted for drilling railsof various sizes and which is suificiently compact in construction sothat it may be used in complicated track layouts where the rails may beclose together as, for example, at places where switches are installed.Furthermore, the drill is sufficiently light in weight so that it may bereadily carried from one location to another by two men using thecarrying handles as suggested, or, if only one man is present, he maymove it along the track from one location to another by mounting thedrill on one of the rails with its weight supported by the cross-members38 and 40 and then sliding the drill along the rail.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention,it will be apparent that numerous variations and modifications thereofmay be made without departing from the underlying principles of theinvention. 1, therefore, desire by the following claims to includewithin the scope of the invention all such modifications and variationsby which substantially the results of my invention may be obtainedthrough the use of substantially the same or equivalent means.

I claim:

1. In a track drill for drilling track rail webs or the like, asupporting frame consisting of horizontally extending main tubular framemembers spaced by cross-members and terminating in upwardly inclinedends and carrying handles on opposite sides of said drill, a mechanismframe consisting of a pair of parallel longitudinal side members andconnecting cross members, said mechanism frame supporting a drillspindle assembly and a driving motor therefor with the longitudinal axisof said parts disposed transversely of the supporting frame, means forsecuring said mechanism frame to said supporting frame with the axis ofsaid spindle in a plane above the horizontal portion of said supportingframe, said means being adjustable to raise and lower the axis of saiddrill spindle, a manually operable feeding mechanism for advancing andretracting said drill spindle, a rail hook adapted to be engaged with atrack rail when said drill is in operating position, and a toggle linkconnection for securing said rail hook to said mechanism frame, saidtoggle link connection being adapted to be rocked forwardly for movingsaid hook to extended position permitting engagement of the same over atrack rail or disengagement therefrom and to be rocked backwardly to aposition slightly beyond dead center for locking said hook in contractedposition to hold a drill bit in said drill spindle assembly in firmcentered engagement with the web of a track rail being drilled.

2. In a track drill, an elongated carrying and supporting framecomprising relatively closely spaced duplicate frame members having astraight horizontally extending intermediate portion of appreciablelength merging at each end into upwardly and divergin-gly inclinedportions, means to interconnect said frame members in parallel spacedrelation including transversely extending cross frame members connectingthe horizontally extending portions of said frame members to form a bed,and handle-forming means connecting said inclined portions at a positionconveniently to be grasped when the frame is to be carried, an elongatedmechanism frame having its longitudinal axis transversely dis-- posedwith respect to the horizontally extending portions of said carryingframe and substantially medially thereof, a drill spindle and drillfeeding mechanism supported in said mechanism frame in longitudinalalignment with the longitudinal axis of said mechanism frame, drilldriving mechanism including a motor supported on said mechanism frameabove said spindle, means upstanding from the cross frame members insaid carrying frame for supporting said latter frame above said carryingframe for pivotal movement upon an axis disposed laterally of saidmechanism frame to permit vertical adjustment of said drill spindlerelative to the web of a rail.

DWIGHT RICHARDS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 165,681 Moyer July 20, 18751,037,449 Crump et a1 Sept. 3, 1912 1,966,836 Talboys July 17, 1934

